Anatomy of an Embezzlement
Humboldt County Fair financial records show a pattern of irregularities and red flags
Cover Story
Anatomy of an Embezzlement
If you look at any of the various checklists of how to protect an organization from fraud, which you can find through an easy Google search, it’s hard to argue the Humboldt County Fair Association wasn’t a plum target for embezzlement. Did it do thorough background checks for new hires? Nope. Did it have written…
Stand-up Comedy Workshop at Savage Henry
Think you’ve got the stuff to be a stand-up comic? Are your friends always saying you should take that schtick on the road? Check out the Stand-up Comedy Workshop, Sundays, 7 to 8 p.m. at Savage Henry Comedy Club (free, donations accepted). Local stand-up comic Jessica Grant leads the workshops that are open to anyone…
Curry Leaf’s Fire-Breathing Woks
The opening of Curry Leaf (2335 Fourth St., Eureka) in the former location of Gonsea is happy news for fans of noodles of many stripes but especially fried. There is more on the menu — a lot more, in fact, as the pan-Asian offerings span from kimchi fried rice to Malaysian curries to tempura and…
Sounds and Stories of West Africa in Arcata this Weekend
Don’t miss a rare chance to hear the rich sounds of West Africa performed by master artists right here in Arcata. Clear your calendars for the West African Cultural Homage, a two-night musical showcase with Lansana Kouyat, Miriam Djakite and Gordon Hellegers, taking place Saturday, Feb. 4 and Sunday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. at HLOC’s Space…
Music Tonight: Friday, Feb. 3
How about a night of local rock bands to assuage whatever fears you might have been experiencing about a dearth of regional weirdos making the good noises with loud guitars and drums? Here’s your taste, whether asked for or otherwise. At 8 p.m. Blondies hosts Heart Eyes, Wyld Banshee Whispers and Pills 4 Thrills. Having…
Dan Hoyle Presents New Work at the Playhouse
Award-winning actor and playwright Dan Hoyle presents his new piece of immersion research theater Talk to Your People – A Solo Show With Dan Hoyle, Saturday, Feb. 4, at 8 p.m. at Arcata Playhouse ($20, $18 members). The show chronicles America’s first year of the pandemic through seven stories. The New York Times says, “Dan…
Music Tonight: Thursday, Feb. 2
Frankie and the Witch Fingers are a Los Angeles-based, Indiana-born band that plays loud, modern psychedelic rock that sounds like an updated version of Roky Erickson and his seminal 13th Floor Elevators band. The group has even opened for ZZ Top, which totally tracks with the style of music. Tonight’s show at the Miniplex will…
Public Health Reports Two New COVID Deaths
Humboldt County Public Health reported today that the county has confirmed two new COVID-19 deaths, a resident in their 50s and another over the age of 80, since its last report Jan. 25. One new hospitalization was also reported and, according to a state database, six people are currently hospitalized with the virus locally, including…
2023 NCJ Pet Photo Contest Voting Round!
[IMAGE-1] It’s time! VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES! Submissions are closed, so cast your vote for your favorite critters from Tuesday, Feb. 14 through Sunday, Feb. 19. Vote once per day, per category. WINNERS will be published in the Feb. 23,2023 edition of the North Coast Journal in print and online. The winning pet of each category will…
Music Tonight: Wednesday, Feb. 1
Dirtwire is one of those crossover acts that mixes acoustic and folk instruments and traditions with electronica that were very popular here and abroad among the festival crowds during the last decade. Tonight at 9 p.m. you can revel in that scene at the Arcata Theatre Lounge, where joined by openers Bloomurica, the DW will…
Supervisor Bohn Apologizes for Misogynistic Comment at Fundraiser
Humboldt County First District Supervisor Rex Bohn opened this morning’s board meeting with a vague apology for a misogynistic comment he made as an auctioneer at a recent fundraising event. While it was never recounted in detail at the board meeting, Bohn’s comment came at the Eureka Chamber of Commerce’s Cocktails and Crooner’s fundraiser and…
Double Dipping at El Chipotle
If you came to El Chipotle (850 Crescent Way, Arcata) in the mood for a torta, the prize specimen isn’t listed with the others served on bolillo rolls. Flip to the house specialties page of the menu to find the showstopper pambazo. Chef and co-owner Oscar Anguiano’s Mexico City iteration is a traditional soft, white…
Quakes Damage Hits $32M, Disaster Loan Center Moves to Rio Dell, Contractors Wanted for State Earthquake Retrofitting Program
To state the obvious, living in Humboldt County means living in earthquake country. That’s the reason why local homeowners, especially those with a house built before 1940, may be eligible to apply for a state program called Earthquake Brace + Bolt, which aims to help offset the cost of retrofitting homes vulnerable to falling off…
Patricia Meinhardt: 1937-2022
Patricia Nan Meinhardt, 85, of Ferndale Ca. passed away Nov. 8, 2022 due to living a long fulfilling life of joy, love and faith. Patricia was born on July 23, 1937, to Blanche and Vincent Casavecchia in the city of Lynn, Massachusetts. After she graduated from high school she enlisted in the U.S. Army and…
NCJ Preview: Embezzlement, a Singing Chef and Spearfishing
This week we’re looking at the alleged embezzlement at the Humboldt County Fair Association. We’re also talking about the singing coming from the kitchen at Opera Alley Bistro, where the chef croons while he cooks. Finally, we’ve got tips for those who want to spearfish in Humboldt. Hit subscribe for weekly updates on local stories.
Joan Katri: 1939-2023
Joan Katri was born in 1939 in Eureka to Bernard and Mary Katri. She grew up in Ferndale, graduating in 1957 from Ferndale high school. Joan attended and graduated from California School of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California. She then worked in commercial art in San Francisco for several years after which she lived…
Music Tonight: Saturday, Jan. 28
RampArt Skatepark is hosting an album release party for a compilation called URgE Skate Session, Vol. 1, and it looks like it’s going to be a real corker. 4 p.m. ($10). Eight (mostly) local bands of various levels of aggression and heaviness will be hitting the curved stage for the enjoyment of the gathered masses.…
Music Tonight: Friday, Jan. 27
The Humboldt Folklife Society is bringing back its popular barn dance to the Arcata Vet’s Hall tonight at 7:30 p.m. Join the Cider Mill Creek Band and dance caller Lyndsey Battle as they lead you through a variety of group dances. ($10, $5 Humboldt Folklife Society members, kids 12 and under free).
Photos: The Sisters’ Day of Non-Judgement
On Jan. 22, the sun bounced off sequined coats and glittering makeup, and the breeze lifted Pride flags overhead and others worn as capes. Someone in a bright pink jacket moved through the crowd offering Fruit Loop and Fruity Pebble marshmallow treats from Patches’ Pastries. The crowd on the lawn beside Ferndale’s Town Hall formed…
College Enrollment Decline Leads to Funding Changes for Underperforming Cal State Schools
The California State University system is putting campuses on notice: Enroll more students or lose money. It’s a stunning reversal of fortune for the 23 campuses of the country’s largest public university system, which have collectively lost 27,000 students in two years — part of a national wave of declining college enrollment. In fall 2020,…
Correction
A story in the Jan. 19, 2022, edition of the North Coast Journal headlined “While a Constitutional Right, Abortion Access Remains Limited in Humboldt” contained an error regarding the length of gynecologist Kim Ervin’s career on the North Coast. She has provided women’s health care in the community for 34 years. The Journal regrets the…
High Intensity
When the earth began to shake at 2:34 a.m. on Dec. 20, the epicenter was just off the coast of Ferndale. But a combination of factors, including how the rupture traveled inland on an east-north-east trajectory, placed the quake’s bullseye on Rio Dell. Felt as far away as Redding and the Bay Area, the magnitude…
Heroes of the Redwoods, Part 1
Should our lives be judged by the best or the worst of our actions? With most of us, I suppose it’s a bit of a crapshoot, deciding which of our many ups and downs would count as “best” or “worst.” With others, it’s obvious. Take the case of John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (1874 – 1960).…
Lady Luck
Many years ago, in a Yankee cemetery in coastal Maine, I was pondering the grave of a young man who was taken out of the game by an “unruly bull,” in an incident that I can only imagine was every bit as dramatic and shocking as the gravestone (upon which I was making an etching)…
Circular Elipsis
at twenty I wrote a poem that would be a song sung by a woman in her twenties when I was sixty at thirty I wrote a poem that was a dream I had at twelve of a woman who is eternal at forty I found that place between the biding time and fully awake…
Crooning and Cooking at Opera Alley Bistro
Amid the sound of an elk and bison burger sizzling and the warm aroma of the day’s soup, Madison “Mattie” Lopez’s tenor cascades from the pass-through window between Opera Alley Bistro’s kitchen and dining room as he belts out Frank Sinatra or Johnny Cash with a little Michael Jackson sneaking in. Table conversation sometimes stops…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Noah Webster ((1758–1843) worked for years to create the first definitive American dictionary. It became a cornucopia of revelation for poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). She said that for many years it was her “only companion.” One biographer wrote, “The dictionary was no mere reference book to her; she read it as…
Marine Life Tips for a Spearfishing Newbie
Getting in or under water offers an almost instant separation from the literal and figurative, gravity of life on firm ground. Whereas a mountain bike ride or trail hike may take some time to truly detach from our everyday lives, getting into the ocean offers an instant sense of separation. Sight, sound and motion are…
Green Water Awaits Weekend Steelhead Anglers
If you’re in search of your first winter steelhead of the season, you’ll want to be on a river this weekend. The lack of rainfall for the past two weeks, both a blessing and a curse, has allowed most rivers to drop and turn the shade of green that keeps steelhead anglers awake at night.…
Aftersun is All Grown Up
AFTERSUN. “Coming of age,” outmoded notion though it may be, continues to be an object of fascination, in art as in life. In order to contextualize transition and ostensible maturation, we continue to construct and promulgate myths, demarcate arbitrary boundaries and assign significance to moments of arrival. As time marches on, though, we (the species)…
‘Do More’
Editor: My name is Brielle Thomas and I am a student at Redwood Coast Montessori in Arcata. Since the beginning of the school year, there have been a lot of weird looking vans sitting outside the school and people camping in tents. I am worried that something bad might happen to the students. I feel…
‘Echo and Amplify’
Editor: I am writing to echo and amplify Mark Larson’s disappointment with the sorry state of KHSU (“KHSU MIA After Quake,” Jan. 12). Mark is absolutely right that KHSU was a no-show for Humboldt residents hungry for emergency information during the recent string of natural disasters. But that’s nothing new — since the university summarily…
Donate!
Editor: Donating blood is a cause that is near and dear to my heart and I have been donating for many years. I am a regular donor and work with the Blood Bank to set-up large blood drives like the Annual Battle of the Badges and the Annual Eureka Police Department Christmas Blood Drive. We,…
‘Too Many Questions’
Editor: If you go to Ferndale pastor Tyrel Bramwell’s website, tyrelbramwell.com, you will find an image of Tyrel with blue hair and earrings (NCJ Daily, Jan. 19). Tyrel claims that a local “LGBTQ nonprofit organization” created it, with the help of “AI,” for a fundraiser. Tyrel calls this a California Civil Code 3344 violation. But, Tyrel…
‘Traditional Family Values’
Editor: I am so sick of this town trying to be turned into Arcata or San Francisco. We are a Christian-based farming town, with traditional family values. That is what attracts people here. We are not a place to turn into a freak show by those that think this ridiculous woke movement is OK and…
Misprint or Satire?
Editor: I am confused by your Health and Wellness Issue (Jan. 19). It contained virtually no articles on health and wellness, at least as depicted on the cover. Nothing about exercise, meditation, check-ups with a doctor, etc. Sure, there was the article about medical insurance. And abortion can be considered a health issue. At least…
In Response
Editor: In the Dec. 29 issue Jane Fusek wrote a letter responding to my “Gardening for Caterpillars” article that appeared in the Dec. 15 issue. Fusek wrote that when she went on the National Wildlife Foundation website, as I suggested, she found a general listing for trees and shrubs, several of which were not local…
